Overview

""Fascinating and vivid."" New Statesman ""Thoroughly researched."" The Spectator ""Intriguing."" BBC History Magazine ""Vividly told."" BBC History Revealed ""A timely warning against persecution."" Morning Star ""Astute and thoughtful."" History Today ""An important work."" All About History ""Well-researched."" The Tablet On the morning of Thursday 29 June 1682, a magpie came rasping, rapping and tapping at the window of a prosperous Devon merchant. Frightened by its appearance, his servants and members of his family had, within a matter of hours, convinced themselves that the bird was an emissary of the devil sent by witches to destroy the fabric of their lives. As the result of these allegations, three women of Bideford came to be forever defined as witches. A Secretary of State brushed aside their case and condemned them to the gallows; to hang as the last group of women to be executed in England for the crime. Yet, the hatred of their neighbours endured. For Bideford, it was said, was a place of witches. Though ‘pretty much worn away’ the belief in witchcraft still lingered on for more than a century after their deaths. In turn, ignored, reviled, and extinguished but never more than half-forgotten, it seems that the memory of these three women - and of their deeds and sufferings, both real and imagined – was transformed from canker to regret, and from regret into celebration in our own age. Indeed, their example was cited during the final Parliamentary debates, in 1951, that saw the last of the witchcraft acts repealed, and their names were chanted, as both inspiration and incantation, by the women beyond the wire at Greenham Common. In this book, John Callow explores this remarkable reversal of fate, and the remarkable tale of the Bideford Witches.

Full Product Details

Author:   John Callow (University of Suffolk, UK)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Bloomsbury Academic
Weight:   0.680kg
ISBN:  

9781788314398

ISBN 10:   1788314395
Pages:   352
Publication Date:   07 October 2021
Audience:   General/trade ,  College/higher education ,  General ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Illustrations Acknowledgements A Note on Dating & Terminology Prologue: The Magpie at the Window Chapter One: Fortune My Foe Chapter Two: England's Golden Bay Chapter Three: An Underground Religion Chapter Four: The Cat, the Pig and the Poppet Chapter Five: The Stolen Apple & a Farthing's Worth of Tobacco Chapter Six: A Fine Gentleman Dressed All in Black Chapter Seven: The Discourse of the Sleepy Chimney Chapter Eight: The Politics of Death Chapter Nine: At the House of the White Witch Chapter Ten: Where are the Witches? The Crafting of Memory and Survival Endnotes Bibliography

Reviews

Callow's intriguing book is both a case study of the Bideford witch trail and an examination of how superstition prevailed in a time of increasing rationality... Callow's fascinating and vivid unpicking of the English Salem is also an account of the birth pangs of the modern age. -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman * Callow examines in detail the surviving evidence of the Bideford case, while also imaginatively reconstructing event to create a convincing picture of how superstition and belief in sorcery lay just beneath the surface of a mercantile society struggling to be born. -- Nigel Jones * The Spectator * A retelling of a 17th-century witchcraft trial that never loses sight of the women at its heart, nor the social and economic factors that contributed to their plight... There is no plain explanation for the witchcraft accusations of 1682, but then acts of evil never have a simple origin. The Last Witches of England faces that fact and marshals an intriguing story around new research on the case. -- Marion Gibson * BBC History Magazine * Carrow meticulously explores the haunting tale of the Bideford witches. -- Suzannah Lipscomb * UnHerd * Vividly told, detailed and extremely moving. * BBC History Revealed * [Callow] brings to the Bideford episode a nuanced sense of how witches' supposed powers were understood and experienced at different levels of early modern society. * Inside Higher Ed * The Bideford witches' story is an essential piece in England's witchcraft history. Callow has researched it properly and deeply for the first time, and his astonishing discoveries shed new light on this tragic and bizarre story. He draws the reader into the story, retelling it with vibrant characterisation. We come away with a thoughtful understanding of what it meant to be deemed a witch, tried as a witch, and to die as a witch. * Dr. Christina Oakley Harrington, Founder & Director, Treadwell's, UK * I read the book with considerable interest and enjoyment - others have written on the Bideford witches, but not in this sort of depth. John Callow has been remarkably successful in reconstructing the story of the three 'Bideford Witches' executed in 1682. He maintains an imaginative and accessible narrative grounded in the relevant documentation and the relevant historical context, which will immerse the modern reader in the tragedies and complexities of the early modern witch hunts. * James Sharpe, Professor Emeritus of Early Modern History, University of York, UK * This is a stirring and multilayered book. At its heart is a very sad story, but one that needs to be heard. The cautionary tale Callow spins here is not the war between superstition and reason, but in the ways in which we have historically vilified and marginalized those in poverty, especially women, and the lengths we go to in silencing their voices. * Dr Amy Hale, Anthropologist and Folklorist, writer of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully, USA * With 17th Century culture wars, conspiracy theories and non-science, it wasn't just the people who spread deadly superstition. Political, religious, media, scientific and even legal establishments literally demonised vulnerable women. John Callow's meticulous and gripping history of the Bideford Witches is unputdownable. * Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, Politician, Barrister and Human Rights Activist, UK *

The Bideford witches' story is an essential piece in England's witchcraft history. Callow has researched it properly and deeply for the first time, and his astonishing discoveries shed new light on this tragic and bizarre story. He draws the reader into the story, retelling it with vibrant characterisation. We come away with a thoughtful understanding of what it meant to be deemed a witch, tried as a witch, and to die as a witch. * Dr. Christina Oakley Harrington, Founder & Director, Treadwell's, UK * I read the book with considerable interest and enjoyment - others have written on the Bideford witches, but not in this sort of depth. John Callow has been remarkably successful in reconstructing the story of the three 'Bideford Witches' executed in 1682. He maintains an imaginative and accessible narrative grounded in the relevant documentation and the relevant historical context, which will immerse the modern reader in the tragedies and complexities of the early modern witch hunts. * James Sharpe, Professor Emeritus of Early Modern History, University of York, UK * This is a stirring and multilayered book. At its heart is a very sad story, but one that needs to be heard. The cautionary tale Callow spins here is not the war between superstition and reason, but in the ways in which we have historically vilified and marginalized those in poverty, especially women, and the lengths we go to in silencing their voices. * Dr Amy Hale, Anthropologist and Folklorist, writer of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully, USA *

Callow's intriguing book is both a case study of the Bideford witch trail and an examination of how superstition prevailed in a time of increasing rationality... Callow's fascinating and vivid unpicking of the English Salem is also an account of the birth pangs of the modern age. -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman * Callow examines in detail the surviving evidence of the Bideford case, while also imaginatively reconstructing event to create a convincing picture of how superstition and belief in sorcery lay just beneath the surface of a mercantile society struggling to be born. -- Nigel Jones * The Spectator * A retelling of a 17th-century witchcraft trial that never loses sight of the women at its heart, nor the social and economic factors that contributed to their plight... There is no plain explanation for the witchcraft accusations of 1682, but then acts of evil never have a simple origin. The Last Witches of England faces that fact and marshals an intriguing story around new research on the case. -- Marion Gibson * BBC History Magazine * Carrow meticulously explores the haunting tale of the Bideford witches. -- Suzannah Lipscomb * UnHerd * Vividly told, detailed and extremely moving. * BBC History Revealed * The Bideford witches' story is an essential piece in England's witchcraft history. Callow has researched it properly and deeply for the first time, and his astonishing discoveries shed new light on this tragic and bizarre story. He draws the reader into the story, retelling it with vibrant characterisation. We come away with a thoughtful understanding of what it meant to be deemed a witch, tried as a witch, and to die as a witch. * Dr. Christina Oakley Harrington, Founder & Director, Treadwell's, UK * I read the book with considerable interest and enjoyment - others have written on the Bideford witches, but not in this sort of depth. John Callow has been remarkably successful in reconstructing the story of the three 'Bideford Witches' executed in 1682. He maintains an imaginative and accessible narrative grounded in the relevant documentation and the relevant historical context, which will immerse the modern reader in the tragedies and complexities of the early modern witch hunts. * James Sharpe, Professor Emeritus of Early Modern History, University of York, UK * This is a stirring and multilayered book. At its heart is a very sad story, but one that needs to be heard. The cautionary tale Callow spins here is not the war between superstition and reason, but in the ways in which we have historically vilified and marginalized those in poverty, especially women, and the lengths we go to in silencing their voices. * Dr Amy Hale, Anthropologist and Folklorist, writer of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully, USA * With 17th Century culture wars, conspiracy theories and non-science, it wasn't just the people who spread deadly superstition. Political, religious, media, scientific and even legal establishments literally demonised vulnerable women. John Callow's meticulous and gripping history of the Bideford Witches is unputdownable. * Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, Politician, Barrister and Human Rights Activist, UK *

A retelling of a 17th-century witchcraft trial that never loses sight of the women at its heart, nor the social and economic factors that contributed to their plight... There is no plain explanation for the witchcraft accusations of 1682, but then acts of evil never have a simple origin. The Last Witches of England faces that fact and marshals an intriguing story around new research on the case. -- Marion Gibson * BBC History Magazine * The Bideford witches' story is an essential piece in England's witchcraft history. Callow has researched it properly and deeply for the first time, and his astonishing discoveries shed new light on this tragic and bizarre story. He draws the reader into the story, retelling it with vibrant characterisation. We come away with a thoughtful understanding of what it meant to be deemed a witch, tried as a witch, and to die as a witch. * Dr. Christina Oakley Harrington, Founder & Director, Treadwell's, UK * I read the book with considerable interest and enjoyment - others have written on the Bideford witches, but not in this sort of depth. John Callow has been remarkably successful in reconstructing the story of the three 'Bideford Witches' executed in 1682. He maintains an imaginative and accessible narrative grounded in the relevant documentation and the relevant historical context, which will immerse the modern reader in the tragedies and complexities of the early modern witch hunts. * James Sharpe, Professor Emeritus of Early Modern History, University of York, UK * This is a stirring and multilayered book. At its heart is a very sad story, but one that needs to be heard. The cautionary tale Callow spins here is not the war between superstition and reason, but in the ways in which we have historically vilified and marginalized those in poverty, especially women, and the lengths we go to in silencing their voices. * Dr Amy Hale, Anthropologist and Folklorist, writer of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully, USA * With 17th Century culture wars, conspiracy theories and non-science, it wasn't just the people who spread deadly superstition. Political, religious, media, scientific and even legal establishments literally demonised vulnerable women. John Callow's meticulous and gripping history of the Bideford Witches is unputdownable. * Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, Politician, Barrister and Human Rights Activist, UK *

Callow's intriguing book is both a case study of the Bideford witch trail and an examination of how superstition prevailed in a time of increasing rationality... Callow's fascinating and vivid unpicking of the English Salem is also an account of the birth pangs of the modern age. -- Michael Prodger * New Statesman * Callow examines in detail the surviving evidence of the Bideford case, while also imaginatively reconstructing event to create a convincing picture of how superstition and belief in sorcery lay just beneath the surface of a mercantile society struggling to be born. -- Nigel Jones * The Spectator * One 17th-century pamphlet about the Bideford trial promised many Wonderful Things, worth your Reading ; a line that could justifiably be slapped across the cover of [The Last Witches of England]. -- Tristram Saunders * The Telegraph Culture * A retelling of a 17th-century witchcraft trial that never loses sight of the women at its heart, nor the social and economic factors that contributed to their plight... There is no plain explanation for the witchcraft accusations of 1682, but then acts of evil never have a simple origin. The Last Witches of England faces that fact and marshals an intriguing story around new research on the case. -- Marion Gibson * BBC History Magazine * Carrow meticulously explores the haunting tale of the Bideford witches. -- Suzannah Lipscomb * UnHerd * An elegantly presented, well illustrated and readable book on how class conflict played out through witch hunting... A timely warning against persecution and intolerance. * The Morning Star * In The Last Witches of England John Callow painstakingly reconstructs the lines of three beggar women accused of witchcraft in Bideford, Devon in 1632 by trawling administrate records, parish registers and dole lists. It is a remarkable piece of scholarship...astute and thoughtful. * History Today * Vividly told, detailed and extremely moving. * BBC History Revealed * [Callow] brings to the Bideford episode a nuanced sense of how witches' supposed powers were understood and experienced at different levels of early modern society. * Inside Higher Ed * The Bideford witches' story is an essential piece in England's witchcraft history. Callow has researched it properly and deeply for the first time, and his astonishing discoveries shed new light on this tragic and bizarre story. He draws the reader into the story, retelling it with vibrant characterisation. We come away with a thoughtful understanding of what it meant to be deemed a witch, tried as a witch, and to die as a witch. * Dr. Christina Oakley Harrington, Founder & Director, Treadwell's, UK * I read the book with considerable interest and enjoyment - others have written on the Bideford witches, but not in this sort of depth. John Callow has been remarkably successful in reconstructing the story of the three 'Bideford Witches' executed in 1682. He maintains an imaginative and accessible narrative grounded in the relevant documentation and the relevant historical context, which will immerse the modern reader in the tragedies and complexities of the early modern witch hunts. * James Sharpe, Professor Emeritus of Early Modern History, University of York, UK * This is a stirring and multilayered book. At its heart is a very sad story, but one that needs to be heard. The cautionary tale Callow spins here is not the war between superstition and reason, but in the ways in which we have historically vilified and marginalized those in poverty, especially women, and the lengths we go to in silencing their voices. * Dr Amy Hale, Anthropologist and Folklorist, writer of Ithell Colquhoun: Genius of the Fern Loved Gully, USA * With 17th Century culture wars, conspiracy theories and non-science, it wasn't just the people who spread deadly superstition. Political, religious, media, scientific and even legal establishments literally demonised vulnerable women. John Callow's meticulous and gripping history of the Bideford Witches is unputdownable. * Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, Politician, Barrister and Human Rights Activist, UK *

Author Information

John Callow is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Suffolk, UK, who has written widely on early modern witchcraft, politics and popular culture. He is the author of The Making of King James II (2000) and Embracing the Darkness (2005, I.B. Tauris). He has appeared on the BBC Radio 4 documentary It Must be Witchcraft, and the series on the Salem Witches on the Discovery Channel.

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